OnePlus 2 hands-on: First look

Introduction

Today OnePlus has announced the highly anticipated successor to its popular OnePlus One - the OnePlus 2. Called the '2016 Flagship Killer', the new phone once again comes packed with high end features at a relatively low price. We managed to spend some time with the new device and these are our first impressions.

OnePlus 2 at a glance:

• 5.5" 16M-color 1080 x 1920px IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen of 401ppi
• Android OS, v5.1 (Lollipop) with Oxygen OS 2.0
• Quad-core Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A57 CPU, 3/4GB of RAM, Adreno 430 GPU; Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset
• 13MP camera, F/2.0 aperture, OIS, laser auto focus, dual-LED flash
• 2160p@30fps video, 1080@30fps
• 16GB and 64GB storage options
• Dual SIM support
• Fingerprint sensor
• Reversible USB Type-C connector
• Active noise cancellation
• Swappable back panels
• 3,300mAh battery

Perhaps the specs above will make more sense if put into perspective by comparing to the previous model.

The OnePlus 2 uses Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 810 chipset, though it has a slightly lower max working frequency (1.8GHz vs. 2.0GHz) to help with the notorious heating issues this chipset generation has been suffering.

The camera has the same 13MP resolution, but it now boasts an Optical Image Stabilization system and laser auto focus to help with low light focusing.

On paper, the OnePlus 2 seems to have the same screen specs as its predecessor, but size-wise the new phone is a millimeter shorter in both height and width. What has been lost in height, has been gained in thickness, and the OnePlus 2 profile is now a millimeter thicker, not to mention is more than 10g heavier.

The new OnePlus 2 now also has Dual SIM support and the battery is some 200mAh bigger. The newly added stuff also includes a reversible USB Type-C connector instead of microUSB, fingerprint sensor for unlocking the phone with a quick touch, and a slider to toggle the sound modes. The body is also now made out of magnesium alloy.

It's not all sunshine and roses though. The base 16GB model gets 3GB RAM as opposed to the 4GB RAM on the 64GB model. NFC has been removed as apparently no one was using it on the previous model. The super nice 2160p(DCI)@24fps video recording mode is also gone. The phone also lacks Qualcomm QuickCharge support.

The OnePlus 2 will also be more expensive than the OnePlus One and you can check out how pricing will differ across various regions in our dedicated OnePlus 2 pricing post.

With specs out of the way, you can join us on the next pages to see how the OnePlus 2 handles in real-life.